How Pacers' counterintuitive strategy shut down Thunder's stars in NBA Finals
It's never too late to make a change in life — or at least in the most important moment of one's professional life.
The Indiana Pacers are all about chaos. They've made this run to the 2025 NBA Finals by amplifying games to a blurring speed their opponents can't control. That includes a strategy that's rare in the NBA: A full-court press designed to wear out opposing ballhandlers.
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But their Game 6 triumph over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday was, in one important way, a grand reveal that they are more than a one-note team.
How did the Pacers solve the seemingly unsolvable problem of defending Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams? They pulled the chair on the entire Thunder offense.
After several games of full-court pressure, Pacers coach Rick Carlisle took some heat off the Pacers' approach. Instead of pushing forward, Indiana's defenders dropped back and waited for the Thunder stars to come to them before bringing their pressure. As Caitlin Cooper of Basketball, She Wrote noted, the Pacers' pick-up points on Thunder ballhandlers were much more conservative than they have been all series.
Average pick-up distance for the Pacers on defense in Games 1-5: 56.9 feet
Average pick-up distance for the Pacers on defense in Game 6: 41.4 feet
Big difference https://t.co/eoQMUVXN05
— Caitlin Cooper (@C2_Cooper) June 20, 2025
The Thunder weren't ready for it.
As the Pacers' coverages evolved throughout the game, their primary objective was to keep Thunder ballhandlers from getting downhill. That required slowing things down on defense to provide a chance for more precision and balance. Indiana loosened the grip on its fastball, putting some more bend on its cutter that Gilgeous-Alexander couldn't figure out. The result was eight turnovers for the MVP.
The Pacers' problem with full-court pressure coming into Thursday was that it invited Thunder players — particularly Isaiah Hartenstein — to set step-up ball screens in the backcourt. Indiana couldn't control the vast space underneath those picks, so the Thunder stars had tons of room to rub off their screeners and get wherever they wanted.
Indiana's adjustment was to wait until those ballhandlers, particularly Gilgeous-Alexander, crossed the half-court line before springing their trap. On the first play of the game, the Pacers stacked off-ball defenders high into the gaps, steering the MVP into a tight pocket against the sideline. The way Andrew Nembhard suddenly flipped around to pick up Gilgeous-Alexander caught Hartenstein by surprise.
Even that play was higher up the floor than Indiana operated for much of the rest of the game. Indiana's guards set their pick-up points in a more typical area closer to the 3-point line, which made most of their pick-and-roll coverages more effective. When Williams or other guards screened for Gilgeous-Alexander, Indiana was able to switch more comfortably because there wasn't an acre of space behind them. There was less pressure to contain the ball at the point of attack when switching, since the ballhandler would run into help quickly if they got past Indiana's primary defender.
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This forced the Thunder into more isolation plays, making it easier for the other Pacers defenders to aggressively clog the paint. Gilgeous-Alexander lost steam as the game went on, with his possessions looking more listless. That helped Aaron Nesmith and T.J. McConnell pick up some steals by double-teaming Gilgeous-Alexander from behind.
The prior two games, both Thunder wins, made it clear that while the Thunder stars weren't looking to take pull-up 3s off high screens, they gained momentum from driving into space without a body in front of them. Even when the Pacers' bigs crept above the screen level to double-team Gilgeous-Alexander, he still had space to dribble around those defenders and pick up speed. He is a master at staying in motion and then pushing into gaps to break through coverage. In Game 6, the Pacers forced the MVP to do everything over a squared-up defender and lots of help.
Remember Pascal Siakam sitting in the gap on the first play of the game that resulted in a turnover? He was now able to essentially be a secondary dropper on Gilgeous-Alexander pick-and-rolls as part of Carlisle's bet to sacrifice some 3-point coverage to clog the star's driving lanes.
If the Pacers kept pressing full court, Gilgeous-Alexander would have come off those high ball screens with more paths to speed past any gapped defenders. But pushing back the pick-up points made it easier for Siakam to plant in driving lanes behind Myles Turner when the center was guarding up to the screen level.
The strategy against Williams followed the same spirit, though it differed slightly. For one, the Pacers started ducking under high screens for Williams, allowing Nesmith to catch up from below the action while the screener's defender pushed Williams' drives sideways.
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But Carlisle finally accepted he'd need to put bigs on Williams if necessary. I wrote Thursday morning that the Pacers should start mixing in more pick-and-roll switches involving Siakam, Obi Toppin and Turner, even if it left them on an island guarding Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams in isolation.
Siakam has been the Pacers' best help defender in this series, and having him guard either of the two Thunder stars takes him away from that role. Now, the Pacers have moved away from lineups with Siakam at center, giving them another big on the floor to take on the lane-clogging role if he needs to switch at the point of attack.
In Game 6, Siakam was able to stay in front of Williams and Gilgeous-Alexander, then contest high to be an effective antidote.
His length threw off Gilgeous-Alexander's tempo. Most defenders have to be within reaching distance of the Thunder guard to create leverage, but Siakam is long enough to sit a full dribble back. He can close his hips to shuffle backwards when Gilgeous-Alexander hits his trigger step into a drive and use his wingspan to contest any potential stepback jumper. That makes it easier for help defenders to sit deeper into the gaps and get Gilgeous-Alexander to pick up his dribble early.
In contrast, there were many possessions in Games 1-5 where Nembhard and Nesmith stayed in front of the Thunder's drivers, but lacked the length to contest mid-paint stepbacks.
The Pacers won't be able to catch the Thunder off guard two games in a row. But Oklahoma City's shooting, which has been mediocre in this series, will have to improve in a high-pressure situation to make the Pacers pay for dropping back into the gaps. The Thunder may need to rely even more on their defense, which failed to stop a hobbled Tyrese Haliburton from taking control of Game 6.
Game plans can only do so much on the biggest stage in basketball. It's unlikely the Pacers will be able to avoid crunch time again, as the Thunder will have plenty of counters to the Pacers' new approach. But at least it got the Pacers to a Game 7, where a battle of wills will determine the next NBA champion.
Zach Harper runs through everything you need to know heading into Sunday's Game 7.
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